Section B: On the Distinction of Human Acts

105. Elicited and commanded acts. - By reason of the principle from which they proceed, human acts are elicited by the will or only commanded.

Elicited acts are acts of the will itself, namely, those which proceed from the will as from their proper cause, are produced immediately by it, and are received and consummated in it (whether they are commanded by no other act of the will, or depend upon another preceding act): they are diverse acts or modes of willing. Acts only commanded are those which do not proceed immediately from the will, but from another internal or external power subject to the will and moved by it.

By reason of the terminus an act can be internal or external; whence an internal act and an elicited act, an external act and a commanded act, differ: every elicited act is internal, but not every commanded act is external; an internal act, for example, of the intellect or of the sensitive appetite or of the internal senses, can be commanded.